Friday, 30 August 2013

Common sense.

So, common sense has prevailed - for the time being at any rate. David Cameron lost the vote for action in Syria by 13 votes, with many of his own side voting against him.I was struck by the fact that when he was making his speech there was not a single spare seat in the house; when the cameras returned later on there was only a scattering of folk there. Where had they all gone? Did they come back for the vote? How do these things work - can someone explain it to me in words of no more than two syllables?

I did say to my son once that I was always less than impressed by how few M P's there were in the House when the cameras were there, apart from at Prime Minister's Question Time. He lectured me on how MP's had far more important constituency work to do and that that is why they were often not in the House of Commons. I need convincing.

As for the Syria point of view - Tom Stephenson put it very well on his blog yesterday and is well worth a read. All I want to say really is that how can more killing justify the killing in the first place - and if we are so keen to help in Syria, why did we 'allow' so many Kurds to be chemical-weapon-attacked in the Middle East in the not too distant past? And - correct me if I am wrong - I thought that many of the weapons being used by the Assad regime had been bought from the West.

What a troubled, crazy world we live in. We cannot possibly understand the Middle East question. The man who spoke the most sense in yesterday's debate was the past Ambassador to Syria - very impressive and reasonable I thought.

Sometimes I just want to curl up in an armchair, switch off the News and put my head under the blanket.

17 comments:

I read somewhere that there was a suggestion that one picked up at the scene was believed to have been made in Saudi Arabia. You will recall that Julian Assange's Wikileaks revealed evidence that Saudi Arabia wanted the USA to start a war against Iran. And as Iran is a friend of Syria this could be a way to do achieve that objective by the back door as it were. But of course I may be completely wrong. The first casualty of war is the truth. And then there's always a lot of fog to deal with. The fog of woe I call it.

Make it a big armchair Pat and move over for me to join you! The news gets more disturbing every day.To relieve the stress, google Frances Pickering and look at her website. It is full of the most delightful fabric and paper books.

My first reaction to the vote, was at least a mature vote has been arrived at, we don't want more 'killing fields'. But how to resolve the problem is something else and no one can walk away from the horror of gassing children and adults without wishing for something positive to happen... Tom Stevenson summed it up well.

I'm so proud of Britain standing up to the rush to bomb. The war criminal Bush with his faulty information the last time (Iraq) taught a powerful lesson. That said, Assad seems appalling.The US sells weapons to all and sundry which is horrible.

So horribly sad for the children of Syria.

On a completely different note, I laughed at your plum dilemma and completely identify. How can one allow such a bountiful supply of plums go to waste?.....except who wants to eat horrid plums...?!!!You must let me know what happens in the end.

Hope you have lots of room under that blanket Pat. I for one wish we would stay out of everyone's conflicts. We always get involved whether we need to or not. I am all for helping where it is needed but why does the US have to solve everyone else's troubles. We need to solve our own. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I want a corner of your blanket. :)

Yes. We all feel that way.Assad buys weapons from Russia-lots!Proud of you ally,s in this Instance, though Pres Obama bears a terrible responsibility and must act after speaking. All bad choices. Yes- Kurds, Darfur, but this is the region the world looks at......bad tangle.....

Why the seats were empty at the time you mention I've no idea. The general point remains, though - an MP cannot do his or her job if (s)he spends all his/her time in the chamber. I think they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Tony Benn famous said he retired from being an MP in order to be more involved in politics.

In this particular case, wherever they were at any particular time, they certainly voted in droves when it came to the vote.

Incidentally, The New Statesman has published a list of all the MPs who voted against the government in the Syria vote. Anyone who wants to see if their MP is on it can read it at

A friend here sent a compelling e-mail from the Quakers in Britain sent to your government urging a nonviolent approach to the problem in Syria. Her church joined with others in signing a similar statement and sent it to the U.S. government. I hope they listen